The middle Kapuas and its southern tributary the Melawi, from Sanggau past Sintang to Nanga Pinoh, and the south-west coast country behind the Pawan (Ketapang) and Kendawangan rivers.
Sintang, where the Melawi joins the Kapuas, is the natural toll point of the river, and the Pawan has the port record of Tanjungpura. The villages are later called by names such as Mualang, Ketungau, Desa, Sekadau, Kebahan and Pesaguan. The Malay kingdoms of Sintang, Sanggau, Sekadau and Matan are of later centuries and are not shown.
Who holds it
- Title
- No overall chief: village or longhouse headmen, elders and war leaders, each answering for their own people
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
Nothing is written about the rulers or headmen of this country for 1200. The structure is read from geography and from ethnography of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
What it holds
- River villages and swiddens along the Kapuas and Melawi
- The Sintang toll point (board)
- The Pawan and Kendawangan river mouths
- Gold and forest goods in transit
Allies and rivals
The Tanjungpura port record covers the Pawan mouth; the upper Kapuas lies to the north-east.
How things stand that morning
Not described for 1200; the villages are presumed to be farming, fishing and selling what the rivers and forests give.
Wealth
Forest goods, gold, rattan, resin; no figures.
Military
Not known; boats, spears, shields and blowpipes in the later record. No numbers.
Threats
- Feuds and raiding between villages
- Flood, drought or fire
- A change in the trade that comes by sea
Places of note
- Sintang: Melawi fork.
- Sanggau: Kapuas town (a later name).
- Nanga Pinoh: Melawi town (a later name).
- Ketapang (Pawan): Pawan river town (a later name).
- Kendawangan: South-west coast river mouth.
Where the sources disagree
- The ethnic names used here (Dayak, Kayan, Kenyah, Iban, Ngaju, Banjar and the rest) are later outsiders' or ethnographic names; the ethnic map of 1200 is not known and differs from the modern one.
Evidence: Geography and later ethnography only; no text of the period describes this country.
On the map: A rough outline of the people's country; the real extent of any village group in 1200 is not known, and nothing here is a border.
Sources and studies
- Background knowledge of Southeast Asian history (Wolters; Hall; Bellwood; Scott; Junker; Reid), recalled and not re-read in this pass
- The OMNIA board (September 2026) note for this place: a lead only, not a source
- The isa regional brief (ISA_BRIEF.md) and assignment ise.txt
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.